Friday, June 29, 2018

An LPGA DQ, Tiger-mania, and more Tiger-mania

Not long into the conversation, Rule 4-3b came up, which clearly states that a club damaged during a stipulated round other than in the normal course of play cannot be subsequently used or replaced. The penalty for breaking the rules is swift and severe: disqualification.

With the USGA and R&A in the process of softening many of the rules of golf, my first instinct was that this penalty seems a bit extreme. However, it exists to prevent players from bending clubs out of conforming shape mid-round which seems reasonable. On the other hand, many rules are being adjusted to try to take player intent into account. While it's true that Pace broke her club in a moment of frustration, and not through the normal course of play, it seems unreasonable to conclude that she was intentionally striking her club against a stake to gain some sort of competitive advantage.

That said, in the interest in preventing every potential infraction to require an official determining intent, the rule should stand as written.

The 27-year-old turned in a seven-under 63 on Thursday, good enough to share the first-round lead with Andrew Landry. The 63s set a course record at TPC Potomac, feats that should have garnered their share of attention. According to Spaun, not quite.

"No, hell no," Spaun replied, when asked by reporters if the crowd that followed Tiger stayed behind to catch a glimpse of his round. "They don't even know who I am."

Having Tiger Woods at your event is still tremendous. He does pack in the crowds and the ratings. And his impressing 65 today certainly justifies the excitement of having him back. Tiger has always been a mixed blessing for the other players on tour. He dominates both on and off of the course. But, I doubt you'll find too many players upset about the amount of sponsor and purse money Tiger-mania has brought to the game with it. His comeback is currently helping to make sure that money continues to flow when sponsors are often questioning every dollar they spend on marketing.

Not to mention Spaun unfortunately backed up that 63 with a 73 on Friday to be one stroke behind Woods going into the weekend. I'm guessing he isn't as upset we were watching Woods today.

The GC Tiger Tracker documented Woods's post round comments on Twitter, and Woods doubled down on his committment to putting the TaylorMade Ardmore 3 mallet in the bag last night.

Speaking of Tiger-mania, if you've been following the golf news at all over the last few days you no doubt heard that Tiger was putting a new putter into play. For almost any other golfer, this would hardly be headline material. But, if Tiger Woods changes equipment, and if he is able to play well or even win with it, we're talking about a marketing explosion for TaylorMade. He may be past his prime and struggling through yet another comeback attempt but Tiger Woods still moves equipment sales. This will be one to keep an eye on for sure.